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The evenings demonstration was done by Dave Simms with a stylish clock made in several pieces and then assembled.

The first item to be made was the outer ring which was turned out of a bowl blank. The holes for the pins were drilled before finalising the ring dimensions to ensure that the ring did not split or the holes breaking out. The clock housing piece was created from the stub left by the outer ring. Each were turned to a finish and sized such that they left a gap of 13mm. 

Dave then turned the spacer pieces which were drilled to accept 7mm brass pen tubes which act as the support / bearing sections. The end pieces are turned in the same way and a base section turned to support the whole lot. This was then assembled to produce the clock, so overall the evening was of great interest and shows what can be done with a little imagination and ingenuity.

 The September competition table was well subscribed this evening with a varied mix of projects all of which had their merits.

First place went to the mouse by Bob Green.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second Place went to a cat (there seems to be a theme appearing here) by Geoff Warr.

Third place was a Zebrano bowl by Peter Stanton.

 

The evening demonstration was done by Roger Gilbert who stood in for Richard Coleman who is currently unwell, so our wishes go to him and trust you have a speedy recovery. Roger set about demonstrating the making of a table lamp using the inside out turning technique.

This is where 4 square pieces of wood are temporarily joined together with a paper glue joiint and turned to shape. The joints are then opened and the pieces rearranged at 180 degrees to each other and the glued back together. The blank was previously prepared as the glue must be fully cured and this enabled Roger to complete the form to its final shape.

The final result is a “see through” spindle to make the vertical element of the lamp.

   

The top and bottom solid sections were drilled to accept a brass tube through which the flex would run.

Roger then turned the base and married the 2 pieces together with appropriate holes for the flex to be run to place.

This was an entertaining demonstration which showed a technical piece of turning and construction to best effect.

The evening was a demonstration of rough turning by Ken Garratt. A couple of box blanks were turned ready for drying and after the break a natural edge dish made from branch wood from a Bay tree. The evening finished with a rough turned vase from Laburnum.

Unfortunately the details and results for the August competition were not noted by me at the time. This will be  published when available.

The evening was hosted as a demonstration from one our members, Adrian Finch, who introduced his project as a quaich. This is a traditional Scottish celebratory drinking vessel with 2 handles to allow the drink to be passed around the group. (Unfortunately Adrian did not supply any whisky to pass around).

The project was to create a bowl with a wide brim which is then partially cut away to leave 2 small handles . Sounds simple but was tricky to complete, however, Adrian managed this with great skill even with all of the light hearted heckling and barracking from some of the audience.

                                         

Overall a very entertaining and educational evening and we would hope that it gives some inspiration to the people there. Maybe we will get some quaich’s put in for the August competition table. 

 

This evening was the first installment of a 2 part demonstration by David Simms over 2 consecutive meetings. David is well known for his creation of watch fobs and clock and the first demonstration showed the making of a fob watch with stand. David used Acer for the fob surround and the stand base with oak for the spindle. 

This entailed a high degree of accuracy in machining the clock insert mortice and the mortice and tenon for the base (although the sizing on the night was a little tight).

The end product though was a very elegant assembly, as shown in the centre of the group on the photo below.

David started his project for the next meeting which is the hinged lid box clock which is back left on the photo. This should prove to be of real interest as the accuracy of machining will be paramount.

The evening demonstration was done by Geoff Warr who showed us how he makes a set of coasters with a plywood basket weave pattern insert.

The insert was pre-prepared by gluing the plywood strips together then turning them to round. The body of the coaster was made from a piece of ash by creating a recess for the insert then gluing it to place. It was then skimmed flat and sanded to finish and was then parted off.

However, this was not so successful as Geoff was using a club chuck and his tenon was set for his own chuck. The workpiece was not held securely and came out of the chuck. Unluckily for Geoff the incident was caught on camera, but thankfully no one was injured.

This just goes to show even the best turners have problems and you should always make sure you size the tenon correctly to the chuck jaws.

Geoff went on to make the holder for the coasters by ran out of time before it could be finished. Even so it was an entertaining and insightful demonstration giving most of us ideas for our future projects.

The June competition table produced some lovely work and the first place went to David Hartley with his 3 legged table.

Second place went to Geoff Warr for his set of coasters.

Third place was a 3 way tie with Bob Green and his deep bowl, Roger Gilbert with the small square bowl and Dave Simms with his clock and stand in a beautiful piece of snakewood.

The evening comprised of 2 turners doing a joint demonstration. The first part of the evening was done by Ian George who turned a birdbox with lid and finial. This involved some deep hollowing and showed many skills to achieve the final result.

                   

The second part of the evening was Gerald Hubbard who created one of his signature makes, a clock based on a wooden sphere. Making spheres is always considered a difficult skill but Gerald explained the technique and made it look achievable. Maybe this will inspire us to have a go.

                   

The evening started with the Annual General Meeting where Mick Denton explained what has happened with the club over the lockdowns and brought the members up to date with our current status and aspirations. This information will be summarised and issued on the Club Notices page in due course.

There was a quick break for tea and biscuits which is something that was not allowed during COVID 19 restrictions, so this was a really nice step back to some sort of normality.

The remainder of the evening was taken up by a small demonstration by Richard Coleman and then Mick Denton which rounded the evening off really well.

The monthly competition could almost have been themed as there were a number of plates and platters on the table. All very nice to see.

The yearly prize of woodturner of the year was announced. Third place went to Bob Green, second place was Roger Gilbert and first place went to Dave Simms.

The evenings demonstration was done by Mick Denton making a long stemmed goblet. Unfortunately during the demonstration Mick felt unwell so closed down early.

The demonstration for the evening was by Adrian Finch who made three items. However, he played about with coloured wax and achieved some interesting finishes which proved to be aim so overall a very interesting and entertaining demonstration.